Trump said he is "drawing documents now" to officially label the crisis as a national emergency, a formal action that would have both symbolic and legal power. It's a national emergency.

"We can not "arrest" our way out of the problem".

"There's never been anything like what's happened to this country over the last four or five years", he said. This is happening worldwide.

McMaster, the President's top national security aide, has recommended increasing the number of USA troops deployed to bolster American forces in the country.

Fentanyl is an opioid 50 to 100 times more powerful than morphine that is often mixed into other drugs such as heroin.

It should allow the administration to remove some bureaucratic barriers and waive some federal rules governing how states and localities respond to the drug epidemic.

Ohio Democrats joined Republicans in praising Trump's announcement. "I hope this declaration will lead to necessary, additional resources for states and local communities to ensure those battling substance use disorders can access treatment".

Latvala said he would work to push more state money into the gap left by lawmakers this year.

From a strictly practical standpoint the emergency declaration would have two main effects, according to Keith Humphreys, an addiction specialist at Stanford University who worked in the federal Office of National Drug Control Policy under President Barack Obama. "We feel like it fits as a state of emergency", Caraway said. Numbers for the a year ago aren't yet available, but they're expected to be the worst on record.

American opioid addicts have told ITV news how they slid into drugs abouse - with many initially getting hooked on legally-prescribed painkillers. "I don't know how to tell you how delighted I am". The last national emergencydeclared was for the Zika outbreak, and before that, it was the flu epidemic in 2010. "What it could mean though is Trump and his attorney general Jeff Sessions using the emergency declaration to step up the kind of "strong law enforcement" response to the opioid crisis that Sessions has been pursuing all along".

The commission's report to the president said a declaration "would empower your cabinet to take bold steps and would force Congress to focus on funding and empowering the Executive Branch even further to deal with this loss of life". He has recognized this from before he was elected - he said it many times during his campaign. "When you get into the details only one in 10 people who suffer from addiction in this country, ever, receive any form of treatment".